country; that he is informed and believes the average rate of freight charges between San Francisco and Los Angeles, per carload, are about as follows: First class, $1 30 per 100 pounds; second, $1 15; and third, $1 08-the distance being about 482 miles. Showing that freight is carried to Los Angeles, twice the distance (the 168 miles intervening between that place and Bakersfield being equivalent in cost of construction, and steep grades, to the 314 miles of road intervening between Bakersfield and San Francisco), for the comparatively trifling additional charge of ten cents on 100 pounds, first class; six cents on second class; and seven cents on third class freight; that he is informed and believes the rate of fare between San Francisco and Bakersfield is $17; a rate he is informed and believes three times as high as those of eastern roads for similar service; and he is informed and believes that between San Francisco and Los Angeles it is $23, showing that for $5 a service is performed for Los Angeles for which Bakersfield is charged more than three times as much, or $17, as aforesaid; that he is informed and believes that the rate of freight on wheat, by the carload, between Bakersfield and San Francisco, is $5 50 per ton; a rate as he is informed and believes more than twice as high as is usually charged for similar service on eastern roads, and that leaves to the producer no adequate margin of profit to encourage its production; that he is informed and believes that the rates of freights on all other articles of farin produce are so high as to prohibit their export; that he is informed and believes that your honorable Board will find, on investigation, that no good and valid reason exists why freights and fares should not be reduced between Bakersfield and San Francisco to the same rates that are prevalent with and found profitable by railroad companies in the Eastern States, who have built their roads with their own resources, and not with those generously and trustingly given by the Government and people. And he prays your honorable Board to examine into and remove these causes of complaint, by establishing just and proper rates of fares and freights on the roads between Bakersfield and San Francisco, and as affecting the two places named, and the points intervening, and by publishing the same in such form that they may be understood, the schedule of fares and freights on file in the Recorder's office of this county being unintelligible to those for whose benefit the law required them to be so filed. (Signed) State of California, County of Kern, ss. RICHARD HUDNUTT. Richard Hudnutt, being by me first duly sworn, says that he is the complainant in the above entitled suit; that he has read the foregoing complaint and knows the contents thereof, and knows it to be true, except as to such portions as are stated on information and belief, and as to those he believes them to be true. (Signed) Sworn to before me this thirty-first day of August, 1880. (Signed) R. HUDNUTT. A. C. MAUDE, Notary Public. COMPLAINT No. 3. BEFORE THE HONORABLE THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. David Hirshfield vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. David Hirshfield, a resident of Kern County, and doing business as a merchant in the Town of Bakersfield, complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint alleges that the said railroad company, in utter disregard of the wants, requirements, and convenience of the people of Bakersfield, have located and established its principal depot and shipping point at a distance of a mile and a half from the said Town of Bakersfield, to wit, at the Town of Sumner, thereby causing the merchants and other business men of the said Town of Bakersfield great trouble, expense, and delay in obtaining the goods and merchandise shipped to them from San Francisco, and other points on the line of the said Southern Pacific Railroad. And the complainant prays your honorable body to take such means as will remedy this grievance, and direct and require said railroad company to establish a station and depot at this place, or to construct a switch to such point as will best suit the convenience of the business community of Bakersfield, upon its inhabitants agreeing to pay one half the expense. And further, your complainant prays your honorable body to extend such further relief as may seem proper in the premises. (Signed) State of California, County of Kern, ss. W. H. BROOKS, David Hirshfield, being duly sworn, says that he is the plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. DAVID HIRSHFIELD. (Signed) day of September, 1880. COMPLAINT No. 4. BEFORE THE HONORABLE THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. L. Hirshfield & Co. vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. The said complainant, acting by Herman Hirshfield, a resident of and doing business in the Town of Bakersfield, Kern County, State aforesaid, complain of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint allege, that some time in August last he received from Tulare 200 sacks of potatoes, weighing in the agggregate the sum of 20,000 pounds, or ten round tons, and was charged freight therefor the sum of $63, and which he paid. That the distance from Sumner to Tulare is sixty-three miles, and they therefore paid at the rate of ten cents per ton per mile, which he considers extortionate and unjust, and therefore prays your honorable body to establish and fix a rate of freight between the Towns of Sumner and Tulare that will be more in accordance with the rates charged upon other railroads, and thus will permit your complainant to make a living profit for his goods. H. HIRSHFIELD. (Signed) State of California, County of Kern, ss. H. Hirshfield being duly sworn, says that he is the plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. (Signed) H. HIRSHFIELD. Subscribed and sworn to before me this ninth day of September, A. D. 1880. A. C. MAUDE, Notary Public. COMPLAINT No. 5. BEFORE THE HONORABLE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. W. H. Scribner vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. W. H. Scribner, a resident of Kern County, doing business in Bakersfield as a merchant, complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint alleges: that the rate of fare for the transportation of passengers to and from this place and San Francisco, and to and from the intermediate places, is very much too high for the convenience of travelers, and for the promotion of that frequent and intimate intercourse which is especially to be desired among neighboring towns. And the said complaint alleges that said rates of fares seem to be fixed by no just rule, but rather by an arbitrary one of the company, which, to some places, is unfair and unjust. That he has been shown some statements comparing the rates of the Southern Pacific Railroad with those of other railroad companies in the Eastern and Atlantic States, and he is informed that on the former the rate varies from three and three quarter cents per mile to six cents per mile between San Francisco to Los Angeles, while on the latter the rates run from two and one half to three and one half cents per mile, fixed and certain, irrespective of the situation of the intermediate points. And, therefore, the complainant prays that the rate of fares charged on the Southern Pacific Railroad be reduced in a just ratio to that of the Atlantic roads, and that the same be fixed at so much, say three and one half cents per mile for each passenger for unlimited tickets, and three cents for limited tickets, or round trip. And your complainant prays your honorable body to adjust said rates in accordance with this complaint, and will give such further relief as may seem just and proper in the circumstances. (Signed) W. H. SCRIBNER. W. H. Scribner, being duly sworn, says that he is plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated upon information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. (Signed) W. H. SCRIBNER. Subscribed and sworn to before me this ninth day of September, A. D. 1880. A. C. MAUDE, Notary Public. COMPLAINT No. 6. BEFORE THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Michael Purcell vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Michael Purcell, a citizen of the United States, a resident of Kern County, State aforesaid, and by occupation a sheep raiser, complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint alleges that the said company has established a rate of freight for the transportation of merchandise from Bakersfield to San Francisco, which is excessive and exorbitant, and oppressive, injurious to the . interests of the people, and having a tendency to impoverish the industrious citizens of Kern County, by depriving them of a large portion of their profits and earnings, to which their efforts in their respective business justly entitles them. And for a special cause of complaint alleges that having occasion to ship a large quantity of wool, to wit: à carload from Poso Creek to San Francisco, he was informed the price or charge for such transportation was one hundred and fifty-five dollars for the same, which he considers excessive and exorbitant, and unfair, for this reason, among others, that for the same class of merchandise the charge for transportation from Los Angeles to San Francisco is also one hundred and five dollars, which he regards as very unfair and unjust; the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco is 188 miles greater than from Poso to San Francisco; and because it is an unjust discrimination in favor of Los Angeles and against Poso, and the inhabitants of Kern County generally. And, therefore, he prays your honorable body will consider this complaint, and will take such measures as will tend to adjust, arrange, and reduce said rates of freight so that they will bear more equally and less oppressively on the complainant and others of his fellow-citizens who are in the same business as himself. (Signed) State of California, County of Kern, ss. M. H. PURCELL. Michael Purcell, being duly sworn, says that he is the plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. (Signed) Subscribed and sworn to before me this thirty-first day of August, 1880. M. H. PURCELL. A. C. MAUDE, Notary Public. COMPLAINT No. 7. BEFORE THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. J. A. Clarke vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. J. A. Clarke, a resident of Kern County, State of California, and by occupation a farmer, complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, State aforesaid; and for cause of complaint alleges that said company have fixed, and established, and exact a rate of fares for passengers, and of charges for freight on merchandise passing over their railroad from San Francisco to Bakersfield, and to intermediate and neighboring places, which are exorbitant, extortionate, and oppressive, and that they have a tendency to injure and destroy his own business and that of every other farmer in the county, by depriving him and them of all that portion of the profits of their vocation to which their toil and industry entitle them. And for a special cause of complaint, he alleges that in the latter part of June last he was about to ship from Sumner to Modesto four mules. He was charged for freight on each of said animals the sum of twenty ($20) dollars, but he refused to pay it, because he considered it excessive. But, on further inquiry, he was informed that he could send a carload for $44; and, this being so much cheaper, he took an entire car and sent them in it. And, on further inquiries, he learned that he could have sent a carload, to wit: sixteen mules, for the same money; and even this was a great deal more than what it would have cost him to have driven his mules to Modesto. That further inquiries developed the fact that he could ship one mule for $20, two mules for $30, three mules for $36, and four mules for $48. He complains of this mode of rating the freight, and these charges, because they are unfair and unjust; and while burdensome and oppressive to himself, exert an unfair and wrongful discrimination towards others in the same business as himself, and for the especial reason that it operates constantly in favor of the rich and against the poor stock raiser or farmer, for it is evident that under such a system the more mules a shipper had the cheaper he could ship them; which is against good policy, and tends to the oppression of the poor and to the impoverishment of the county, for where all do not have an equal chance few can thrive. And first asking the permission of your honorable body, while still maintaining that the above charges are bur densome and oppressive in the extreme, and praying that they be much reduced, he suggests that it should be so arranged and ordered that whenever three or as many as four or more mules are going on the same train, though shipped by as many different persons, each one should be charged only his proportion of the price per carload, say,,, and so on, according to the respective ownership of said mules, and in the same proportion with other animals. And he, therefore, prays your honorable body, that in this manner, or in some other that may seem to your superior wisdom more expedient, to reduce, regulate, and adjust the price of transportation of this and other kinds of animals, so that it will bear less oppressively and more equally on all classes of shippers, the rich and the poor alike. (Signed) State of California, County of Kern, ss. J. A. CLARKE. J. A. Clarke, being duly sworn, says that he is the plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. Sworn and subscribed to before me this third day of September, 1880. J. A. CLARKE. A. C. MAUDE, Notary Public. COMPLAINT No. 8. BEFORE THE HONORABLE THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. A. Weill & Co. vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. The complainant, A. Weill, of the firm of A. Weill & Co., merchants residing and doing business in the town of Bakersfield, Kern County, State aforesaid, complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, and having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint alleges that the rates of fares for passengers between this point and San Francisco, and between this place and intermediate places, is much too high, being an average price of five (5) cents per mile for each passenger, while on the railroads in the Eastern States, or Atlantic States, it never exceeds three and a half (34) cents per mile, and on some roads it is as low as two and a half (24) cents per mile. Wherefore, complainant prays your honorable body to reduce this rate of fare to four (4) cents per mile at least, and establish the rate of charges at so much per mile per head as is the custom on the railroads of the Atlantic States, without respect to situation as to intermediate or terminal points. (Signed) State of California, County of Kern, ss. A. WEILL. A. Weill, being duly sworn, says that he is the plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. R. M. Holtby vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. R. M. Holtby, a resident of Kern County, by occupation a stock raiser, complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint alleges that he is in the habit of shipping stock, more especially sheep, to San Francisco, and by the said Southern Pacific Railroad, by the carload, and though he has repeatedly asked the company owning said road, through its authorized agent at Sumner, to have two floors put into each car, so as to accommodate more sheep, as he believes is the practice on other railroads, at the same price per car, the railroad company has as repeatedly refused, and still refuses, and will not allow more than one floor to be used, or to be placed in said car; and yet they charge for this one floor car the same price that they should for the two floors; and he therefore prays that your honorable body will order and direct said company to provide two floors in such cars as are used in shipping sheep, and also as is done on other roads, and charge the same price per carload; and that your honorable body will give such further relief as may seem just and proper in the premises. State of California, County of Kern, ss. R. M. Holtby, being duly sworn, says that he is the plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. (Signed) R. M. HOLTBY. Subscribed and sworn to before me this ninth day of September, A. D. 1880. I. W. TRUMAN, Notary Public. COMPLAINT No. 10. BEFORE THE HONORABLE THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Geo. C. Doherty vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Geo. C. Doherty, a resident of Kern County, State aforesaid, and a bee rancher by occupation, complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, and having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint alleges that said company has fixed, established, and exacts a price or rate of freight upon the transportation of merchandise between here and San Francisco which is exorbitant, excessive, and oppressive, and tending to injure or destroy nearly every industry in the county. And, for a special cause of complaint, alleges that as a producer of comb and extracted honey, the pursuit and development of which industry promises to become one of importance in this county, and that being entirely dependent on San Francisco and foreign export trade for a wholesale market, and that the said company's freight rate on this class of produce reduce the profits to that extent that it will not admit of its further production; that all honey frames, shipping cases, etc., for comb honey, and tins, barrels, etc., for extracted honey, are brought from San Francisco, thus paying freight both ways, rate $1 20 per hundred pounds, on all packages and frames, said frames being detached and packed in compact form. That the present rate on comb honey, $1 20 per 100 pounds gross, would incur a freight expense of over $2 per 100 pounds net, while the present rate on extracted honey, 55 cents per 100 pounds, including freight both ways on cases and tins, amounts to $1 per 100 pounds net. That this shipping expense is nearly three times as much as on other roads for the same class of produce. Wherefore, he prays your honorable body will consider this complaint, and will take such measures as will tend to adjust, average, and reduce said rates of freight so that they will bear less oppressively on this complainant, and on other of his fellow citizens who follow the same business in this county. (Signed) State of California, County of Kern, ss. GEO. C. DOHERTY. Geo. C. Doherty, being duly sworn, says that he is the plaintiff in the above entitled action; that he has heard read the foregoing complaint, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true. (Signed) GEO. C. DOHERTY. Subscribed and sworn to before me this eighth day of September, 1880. A. C. MAUDE, Notary Public. COMPLAINT No. 11. BEFORE THE BOARD OF RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS IN AND FOR THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. A. S. Hoffman vs. The Southern Pacific Railroad Company. And now comes before your honorable body, A. S. Hoffman, a resident of the town of Bakersfield, Kern County, State of California, and doing business as a wholesale liquor and cigar dealer, and complains of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of California, and having its principal place of business in the City and County of San Francisco, and for cause of complaint alleges that the said |